Smart Meters

Increasing investment in smart grid projects, caused by growing interest of utility companies in conservation, efficiency, and cost reduction in electric, gas, and water meter reading, has created opportunities in residential, commercial and industrial market segments.

Analysts estimate that 400 million smart meters will be in use by 2022 and the majority of these will be connected by LTE. Using smart meters, utility companies are able to not only manage meter reading remotely, but also to reduce energy theft, streamline power consumption, prevent service disruptions, and generally improve customer service. LTE-connected smart meters benefit from high-grade, bi-directional connectivity for secure and reliable connections to the grid and central systems of the utility companies, low power consumption for ultra long battery life of 10-15 years, and standards-protected longevity.

Gas Meter Use Case

Customer Profile:

Regional utility company

Scenario:

A municipal utility company providing electric and gas services to residents wants to modernize its operations with smart gas meters that will allow it to remotely manage its gas delivery systems, meter reading, monitoring, billing, and reporting. The utility also wants to use smart meter data to pinpoint usage issues and understand usage patterns for the purpose of predicting demand spikes and preventing service disruptions. The utility’s existing gas meters at customer sites are underground and not connected to power.

Solution:

Sequans’ Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT chip provides a sound basis for smart meters of every kind, but especially for gas and water meters that are generally in hard to reach locations and not connected to power therefore requiring ultra low power consumption for long battery life. Utility companies using Monarch for their smart meter installations enjoy scalability, reliability, and one of the most efficient and robust LTE solutions available today. Using Monarch, which combines Sequans’ proprietary Dynamic Power Management technology with the already low power capability of Release 13 LTE technology, a smart meter can operate on inexpensive batteries for up to 15 years. The advanced LTE technology embodied in Monarch also ensures enhanced, bi-directional coverage and a strong and reliable connection, even underground. by leveraging the 3GPP-defined Coverage Extension Mode A (around +5dB coverage) and Mode B (around +15dB coverage).